Friday, December 27, 2013

Another holiday season has come and gone amidst much celebration, and a lot less stress for those of us who made our cards throughout the year! We hope you've all had a marvelous time and that you'll join us for another year of creativity and fun when we start up again, just as soon as the clock strikes midnight on january first! We think 2014 is going to be FABULOUS... especially if you'll join us. In the meantime, we're excited to show off a new header and a new badge that we hope you'll display proudly! See you next week, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥!

Friday, December 6, 2013

Can you believe, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥, that another year is nearly over, and the holidays are fast approaching! Before we sign and mail all of the fab cards we've made, we thought it would be fun to see the entire year's production... in one big pile!

Once again we thank every single one of you for your participation, your awesome comments, and of course for the amazing inspiration of your gorgeous work. We wish you the happiest-- and most stress-free-- of holiday seasons! We'll be back on New Year's Day to kick off a brand new year of card-making fun, and we hope to see you then. Meanwhile, if you're still making cards, we'd love for you to show them off here; but if you're finished, why not take a photo of your own card pile so we can all congratulate you?!

Friday, November 29, 2013

Stephanie says, "Glittery Wintry Scenes are perfect for post-Christmas Thank Yous. I stamped with Navy Ink and then embossed with glittery embossing powder for an all over starry sky."

Lauren's Other Card
Lauren says, "Our suddenly wintery weather here in the Northeast already had me thinking about snowflakes, and once I saw Unscripted Sketch #232, the whole rest of my card came together. The only thing I love more than having my holiday cards AND thank you notes finished is using up tons of my smallest scraps! Woohoo!"

Remember, you have until 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, December 4th to link-up your holiday Thank You Cards for a chance to win our fun prize pack of goodies.

Friday, November 22, 2013

For our final Jingle Belles prompt of 2013 we're expressing gratitude. We're asking you to create a Thank You card that you can send out after the holidays ... it might be a thank you for a gift, for some food, or maybe even a thank you to someone for just being awesome.

Stephanie says, "I started with pretty papers from Bella Carta's Winter Fun Collection and a cute little Rudolph sticker using the Monday Lunchtime Sketch at Technostamper. I finished with some sequin snowflakes falling from the sky."

So link-up your thank you cards by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, December 4th. Keyword for galleries and our Flickr Gallery is JB:13:24. We'll also have a fun little Thank You Prize for one lucky participant ... a pad of American Crafts Merrymint Papers and the Naughty or Nice Stamp set by Hero Arts.

Reminds us that the true purpose of tradition is to make the holidays happy and comfortable for everyone, with cards (and an AWESOME blog post!) which combine the old and the new perfectly!

Many thanks to everyone who participated, and especially to the lovely Marie Bingaman for coming along and suggesting such a wonderful idea. We'll be back at midnight with a timely new prompt we hope will inspire you!

Stephanie says, "As a child, one of my favorite holiday traditions was waking-up on Christmas morning and running to the fireplace to see what Santa had left in my stocking. He always left an orange, an apple, and my very own glass bottle of Coca-Cola (a real treat), as well as lots of other little goodies ... such fun memories."

Lauren's Other CardLauren says, "Coincidentally, I was also thinking about stockings this week! We opened ours first thing Christmas morning, sitting on my parents' bed. Typically they contained tiny toys, chocolates, and yes, there was ALWAYS an orange in the toe! My card was inspired by this week's Sunday Stamps Sketch and contains some of the treasured vintage green stamps the lovely Stephanie very generously shared with me!!!"

Scroll down to see the gorgeous readers' gallery and link up your own card. Be sure to tell us what tradition inspired you!

Friday, November 8, 2013

We love thinking up new themes and ideas to inspire your Christmas card-making, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥, but something we love even more is when you write in with an awesome idea for US! This time it was the very talented and very enthusiastic Marie Bingaman who emailed us with the idea of making cards based on our favorite family holiday traditions, a suggestion we heartily approved! Maybe you'll be inspired by something your family did when you were a child, or maybe you'll choose a newer tradition which you've begun with your own children or grandchildren. Either way, we cannot wait to see your cards and hear your stories!

You will probably recognize Marie Bingaman's name and fabulous style from seeing her cards in our readers' gallery, or maybe you know her as the leaver of exceptionally nice comments on the blogs of her fellow belles? Either way, we know you'll enjoy a trip to her fun and funny online home, "ANOTHER Card-making Blog?!"! In the meantime, here's her card:

Marie says, "The older I get, the more I realize how important family traditions were to me! I miss going to my grandparents' house after the Christmas Eve service to eat goodies and talk. That tradition died a little bit when my Grandpa passed away, and then for good when my Dad died...Grandma's heart just isn't in it anymore! Hopefully, when I have grandkids...in the *very distant* future(!!), I can start the tradition over again for a new generation!"

Stephanie says, "One of my favorite family traditions was decorating the Christmas tree as a family with our collection of vintage ornaments. We would pull them out one by one and take turns placing them on the tree until it was completely covered. I loved sitting in the dark living room at night and watching the lights twinkle ... great memories."

Lauren says, "I think my favorite holiday tradition was reading Clement C. Moore's "Twas the Night Before Christmas" every Christmas Eve. It started with my father reading to my siblings and myself when we were tiny. As we grew, it was quite a big deal the first year each of us was old enough to be the one to read it. Eventually we could all recite it by heart--and to this day, I still can! I treasure the first story-book copy I was given as a tiny girl, and as an adult I've collected a dozen or so more, and am always on the lookout for pretty vintage versions. This card uses a scaled-down color-copied page from one of my favorite editions, with illustrations by Zillah Lesko."

Now we long to hear about ♥YOUR♥ favorite holiday traditions, and see the cards they inspire you to make! Link them up here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, November 20th. Keyword for galleries and our Flickr group is JB:13:23.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Lauren says, "I know flamingos aren't the first "Christmas Creature" one thinks of... (obviously, that would be MONSTAS, lol!) ...but I love them, and generally make at least one flamingo card per year. This year's model is based on the current Retro Sketch and is showing off the newest craze at the North Pole: Flamingo Bingo! Won't you come and play?!"

Stephanie says, "This week I pulled out one of the cute little Mice from the Makey Bakey Mice Christmas CD-Rom. Since he is dressed as Santa, I added a little brick chimney behind him & some tiny *berry* gems to his Santa hat."
Remember, link-up your Creature Feature card by 6pm EST on Wednesday, November 6th.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

When Lauren & I first starting brainstorming ideas for Jingle Belles several years ago, one of the first prompt ideas that came up in our discussion was creatures ... which says a lot about the two of us :)

We always look forward to the end of October ... the month that celebrates creatures, costumes & characters.This prompt is to create a card that features a *creature*. Your creature might be an animal ... a mouse ... a bird ... a robot ... elves ... snow-persons ... or yes, even a monstah ... just have fun with it ... you can see we did.

Stephanie says, "When I found out Stampin' Up had a new set called Fun With Christmas that featured a Christmas Sloth ... I had to have it. As I was trying to figure out how to feature the tiny stamp, my dear husband said, "couldn't you make him into a banner" (yes, after years of providing card critique, he's that good) ... and so I did. I stamped three Christmas Sloths, colored them with pencils, and added a Ho Ho Ho ... and then finished with some washi tape. I also made a tag with a Christmas Fox from the same set if you want to click on over to my blog.

Lauren says, "I'm not sure why I decided to make my first Christmas monsta card a few years ago, but I know that the monsta in question was the same as this little green dude and that I cut him from a treasured roll of Paperchase's now sadly discontinued giftwrap. I paired him with a bunch of funky patterns and added a Dymo label sentiment. I've made at least a few monsta cards every year since then. They are always some of my favorites, and they ALWAYS make me smile. This time I used the current Fetch A Sketch to guide my layout, the last of my Love, Elsie blue snowflakes paper, and a little bit of deco tape. Consider Christmas monsta season 2013 officially OPEN!" :)

And now we cannot wait to see what you will do with this fun prompt! Link your cards here by Wednesday, November 6th, at 6pm (EST). Keyword for galleries and our Flickr group is JB:13:22.

We always appreciate your efforts, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥, but this time you've outdone yourselves! Not only were your pink card creations magnificent, but when we added in multiples, there were a total of ♥81♥ cards submitted which means you helped us to raise $324.00 to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure!!! Take a bow, every one of you, and please accept our heartfelt thanks!

Meanwhile, the cards themselves really were awesome; here are a few that particularly caught our eye:

...added just a few accents (and one very handsome deer!) to some lovely patterned paper, for a card that's simply perfect!

So who will get the fun surprise pack of christmas card-making goodies we hinted at? According to the fine folks at Random.org the lucky number is...

♥48♥

which means our winner is...

♥Marie Bingaman♥of ANOTHER Card-Making Blog?!
We *swear* that this was the genuinely RANDOM pick as chosen by Random. org!!! Though secretly we were planning to thank Marie for her enthusiasm, the *10* gorgeous cards she made for this prompt, and the way she spent this fortnight cheering on her fellow participants, all of which was VERY much appreciated!!!

(But we promise, she really did win the prize fair and square!!!)

Congratulations, Marie, and thank you very much indeed! ♥♥♥(Please email us at jinglebellesrock @ hotmail.com to claim your prize!)

Many thanks again to *EVERYONE* who played along with us for such a good cause, especially those of you who made more than one card just to help us raise the totals. We sooooo appreciate it, and we know that Susan G. Komen will love getting this donation! ♥♥♥

Come on back at midnight when we'll have a brand new prompt we hope will help you scare up some inspiration!

Friday, October 18, 2013

We love all the prompts in the cardmaking year equally, Jingle Belles, but we think you'll understand if we confess that ♥PINK CHRISTMAS♥ has a special place in our hearts. Remember that for every new holiday card, featuring the color pink, which gets linked at the original post, Stephanie and Lauren are each donating $2 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, for a total of $4 per card. There are NO LIMITS to how many times you can link up, so join in as often as you like! We do also have a little surprise packet of goodies to give away to a random card-maker, but mostly, what we want to do this week, is raise as much money as possible for this awesome cause!
Here are our cards:

Lauren says, "Over the summer, I remember seeing a page in one of my vintage Christmas Ideals magazines that was entirely in shades of pink, and I thought to myself, "Aha! I shall save that for Pink Christmas!" I must've put it in a very safe place, because despite a vigorous search, I just can not find it! Eventually, I settled upon the pretty ornaments you see here, which were very lovely, but in their original state they were GREEN and quite over-sized! Luckily a little Photoshop magic made them the right color, the right size, and all-round just right for this prompt. I used the current Retro Sketch for my layout, et voila!"

Stephanie says, "This week I went with a new-to-me line of papers from The Paper Studio called Santa & Friends that contains all sorts of fun pink hues ... who knew one of Santa's besties was a Winter Owl. I paper pieced my Lawn Fawn Winter Owl using the fun pink snowflake paper for his scarf and orange glitter pen for his beak ... and added a few strips of washi tape to finish the design."

Friday, October 11, 2013

We're super-excited to celebrate our Third Annual Pink Christmas ... for the Cure! This is the fortnight in which we (Stephanie & Lauren) want to honor all of the brave men and women who have battled breast cancer in their lives.

Therefore, the prompt is to make a ♥PINK♥ holiday card. It doesn't have to be all pink, but there must be some clearly visible pink on the card. For each newly made holiday card that you link up, we'll donate $4 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Last year we had 64 cards linked-up ... and donated $256! We'd really like to top that this year, but we need ♥YOUR♥ help to do it!

The rules are simple ... you can choose any shape, size, style, theme, sentiment, papers, embellishments and additional colors you want ... you may combine with other challenges, use sketches from anywhere you'd like, and enter as many times as you wish ... but you must make a NEW holiday card each time, and there must be ♥PINK♥ on it somewhere!

Stephanie says, "I decided to go all-in Pink this week. I stamped an the Carolers (can I just say ... so glad I wasn't born when women wore bustles) & sentiment from a new set called Christmas Happiness on designer paper and then added three shades of Pink Distress Ink. I finished with my favorite pink ribbon and a spray of Pink Iridescent Spray & Sparkle Glitter Varnish."

Lauren says, "I went (almost) all pink, too... SURPRISE, lol! I had originally planned a few more layers, but having come across this beautiful pre-cut piece of Fancy Pants xmas paper, with the holly leaves and text already on it, i couldn't bring myself to cover up too much. I just added the gorgeous Prima floral, a few snowflakes, and a little border and called it a day!"

And now it's time for you to decide if ♥YOU♥ are ready to go all pink... or just a little pink... or maybe you'll help us boost our total donation by making a few different ♥PINK CHRISTMAS♥ cards for the cure?! Link them up here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, October 23rd. Keyword for galleries and our Flickr group is JB:13:21. There *may* also be a little random prize for one lucky cardmaker, as well... you never can tell, so link early and link often! :) THANK YOU for thinking PINK with us!

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Who knew there were so many awesome shapes for Christmas cards to be? Well, clearly, you did, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and you showered us with inspiration this fortnight! Here are a few shapely beauties that especially caught our eye this time:

Rachelle of I'm Black Martha

...wowed us with this astonishingly detailed and layered diecut NOEL card, not to mention a whole new theory of what Mrs. Claus looks like!!! :)

Many thanks to *EVERYONE* who played along, as always, we cannot get enough of your creativity and cleverness! Drop back around at midnight, when we'll have a brand new prompt that we hope will find you in the PINK!

Friday, October 4, 2013

We're loving your creative shaped card designs! Here's what we made for our second round of designs.

Lauren's CardLauren says, "While I was deliberating over a few different ideas for this card, I saw that Mojo Monday was having one of their awesome "round or square" weeks, so I bowed in the face of such serendipity and used their awesome sketch. I did have to flip it, horizontally, when it turned out that my Crate Paper ornaments didn't quiiiiiiiiiiite fit above the elongated "Ch" of the My Mind's Eye chipboard word, but I think the resultant switch works pretty well."

Stephanie says, "I gave my circle die cuts a workout this week. The cute little medallions are from the Barkley Christmas Papercrafting CD-ROM. I then used the next two larger die cuts for my mat and card base. I finished with perfectly sized tiny sentiments from the Jingle Bells Sentimentals set. The finished card are about 4", so they will be perfect to attach to wrapped gifts or tuck into gift bags. You can click through to my blog to see close-up pictures of each one."

Friday, September 27, 2013

This time at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we're making cards which are not square or rectangular, so fire up your silhouette, break out the die cuts or, for those of us who are "old school", dust off those templates! Think round, triangular, heart-shaped, tree-shaped, stocking-shaped, gingerbread house, candy cane, Santa's sleigh... or, well... your imagination and your scissor-skills are the only limits!

Lauren says, "My go-to strategy for shaped cards is to choose simple forms and paper-piece them. These pretty packages are based on some from a retired digital elements kit by Mindy Terasawa, called "Jolly Lil' Friends". I printed one of each present onto cardstock at my desired size (approx. 5x6") and then used them as templates to cut the gifts and bows from scraps of patterned paper. The result is a unique--but similar--card for each of my nieces and nephews; kind of like kissin' cousins!"

Link up before 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, October 9, 2013. Keyword for galleries and the flickr group is JB:13:20.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

By now we're almost kind of used to being blown away by your talent, ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and you certainly did not disappoint us this fortnight! Here are a few vintage-style masterpieces that really rocked our world:

Combines the perfect vintage Santa image with a boatload of inking and distressing talent to combine the old and the new flawlessly!

Now it's time to see which lucky cardmaker will get that super-fun ephemera pack and a $10 shopping spree in Lauren's Etsy shop, Just Enough Stuff. According to the fine folks at Random.Org the lucky number is:

Friday, September 20, 2013

We're having so much fun with vintage holiday style, we couldn't stop at just one card each! Be sure to scroll down to the original post to grab an image (if you need one!); to see the ♥AMAZING♥ readers' gallery; and to link up your own fabulous card! In the meantime, here's what we've made this week:

Lauren says, "If I could only have *ONE* source of vintage holiday images, I think I'd choose the stack of 1960's Christmas Ideals magazines that my uncle's mother, Georgia, lovingly saved for many years, and which he gave to me after she passed away. This pretty nature scene was actually the off-cut from an image i used a while ago, but the sweet little rabbits were just too cute to toss away. My layout is based on Sweet Sunday Sketch #173 which would be brilliant in any case, but was especially useful here, in allowing my strategically placed doily to cover a hole at the top of the image!"

Friday, September 13, 2013

This week we're celebrating all things vintage, and we'd love for ♥YOU♥ to join us by making a brand new holiday card with old-fashioned style. You can accomplish this by using actual vintage elements OR by incorporating one of the many lovely vintage-style paper crafting products that are on the market. Just in case you have nothing at all in your own stash that works, here are a couple of scans from Lauren's own (seriously enormous!) collection of vintage goodies that you may use in your fabulous card designs:

Stephanie says, "I scanned a vintage holiday card for my base (I search for them whenever I'm at flea markets, especially ones with fun colors & illustrations like this one). I removed *from the three of us* from the scan and added a *Let it Snow* sentiment from Christmas Magic for a clean & simple vintage design."

Lauren's CardLauren says, "I used a slightly scaled down version of the 'Joy to the World' sheet music scan, as well as a floral bouquet cut from some vintage gift wrap, and a doily that I found in a box of garage sale goodies. I rounded out with mats and strips of patterned paper that I thought coordinated well with the gift wrap ...et voila! Another card for my 'Sane December' stack!"

Just in case you need a little *EXTRA* incentive, there's a prize on offer, from a fabulous Etsy shop called "Just Enough Stuff" which specializes in vintage ephemera for all occasions! Oh yes, and did we mention this shop just happens to belong to Lauren?! :) Here's what she has to say about the shop and the prize:

"Hi ♥JINGLE BELLES♥! You probably already know how much I looooooove to collect vintage paper goodies, from sheet music to postcards, to funky magazines, books and sewing patterns... if it's old and made of paper, chances are I have at least a little bit! My Etsy shop,Just Enough Stuff evolved out of the realization, a couple of years ago, that whereas *I* have far too many lovely bits and bobs, other folks might not have any! Thus I decided to try to even the balance by making the extras into fun ephemera packs... so we could ALL have Just Enough Stuff! One randomly selected card-maker who links up with us this fortnight will win one of my special Christmas Ephemera Assortments (like the one pictured above) and also a $10 gift certificate to spend at Just Enough Stuff! Good luck and have fun!"

So now it just remains for you to put on your vintage-style thinking cap, make a holiday card, and link up below between now and 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, September 25, 2013. Keyword for galleries and our flickr group is JB:13:19. We can't wait to see what you will do! ♥

jingling all the way!

About Us

calling all ♥JINGLE BELLES♥!

do you have a great idea for a prompt? have you always wanted to design a card sketch? we want to make this a fun year-long GROUP project, so feel free to contribute your (kind & constructive) thoughts any time to stef and lauren: jinglebellesrock@hotmail.com